


Love And Cookies

by PetitSkittles



Series: Love and Cookies [1]
Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: #TaeyongProtectionSquad, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Blood, Chanyeol hates NCT but he loves them, Child Abuse, EXO being like LET ME LOVE YOU YOU STUPID EVIL KID and NCT being like nO, EXO loves NCT, EXO wants to feed NCT chicken soup but NCT is angry, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heroes EXO, Hurt/Comfort, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I swear they will all love each other and themselves later, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Kids NCT, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, NCT wants to be loved, Not that bad I promise, Oh look another superhero au, Panic Attacks, Protect Taeyong 2k17, Self-Harm, Smut, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Torture, Villains NCT, YES Ten Lucas Kun and Jungwoo will be there but for like two chapters, Yes there is JohnDo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-02-06 13:02:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12818100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetitSkittles/pseuds/PetitSkittles
Summary: EXO is a group made of the world's most powerful heroes. They saved the world more than once and only the worst of the worst can be considered a menace for them. They soon find themselves with NCT, the most dangerous criminals' sons, in their hands, but can't bring themselves to put them in jail after finding they're just some kids with pure souls and golden hearts raised the wrong way.Aka the Heroes!AU where Heroes!EXO are soft and VillainsKids!NCT are just craving for some love and cookies.





	1. The NCT kids

There are so many characters, it's easy to get confused by who is who ! Here's a little something to help you :

\- Lee Taeyong (15 years old)

Son of Harley Quinn and Loki (that's a long story... okay, not really, it'll be explained later)  
Can use magic, spells and all that like his father (and choose to use it to change his hair color and get free ice cream)  
Leader of the NCT kids (and really sad because he's immortal but most of his team isn't and he doesn't want them to die and leave him alone)  
Have a crush on Jaehyun and he's not subtle at all (but he thinks he is)

 

\- Jung Jaehyun (15 years old)

Son of Venom  
Have the same habilities as his father  
God have mercy on you if you hurt his precious Taeyong

 

\- Kim Doyoung (14 years old)

Son of normal parents who were murdered by the Joker, raised by the latter  
Have a Purple Beetle (evil one) and he's scared of it, but can't make it go  
Good in fight but prefers to stay back and just protect other  
His Beetle likes to scare him by doing crazy things to his body (like turning his hair purple) to show it has control over him

 

\- Nakamoto Yuta (15 years old)

Had a great life until the Joker killed his parents and took him with him  
Managed to escape once but got back because he didn't want his brothers by adoption to be hurt because of him  
One of the best fighters since he can't die (but every wound is is twice as painful)  
In a relationship with Hansol

 

\- Ji Hansol (17 years old)

Son of nobody special  
Tried to kill himself, did it and got back to life, tried again, got back again and it went on and on until he met Yuta  
As the oldest, he'll do anything to protect the others (but mostly Yuta)  
In a relationship with Yuta  
He's only sevente- wrong Hansol oops

 

\- Dong Sicheng (14 years old)

Son of Poison Ivy  
A cutie  
He's really shy and can't speak Korean as well as the others  
Often uses his powers to make flowers grow in their house so it's more like home and less like hell

 

\- Mark Lee (12 years old)

Son of Poison Ivy  
Actually he's not twelve, he was created by some evil guys  
Is he the leader or the maknae the Dreamies themselves don't know  
Haechan's cutie

 

\- Lee Donghyuck (11 years old)

Son of the Green Goblin  
Fights by just punching everyone  
AnNoYiNg As FuDgE but that's how he shows his love  
Mark' soulmate

 

\- Lee Jeno (11 years old)

Son of a bitch (literally)  
Some drug lord slept with his mother and bam here he is  
Doesn't have any powers or special tricks but can easily kick the Dreamies' ass  
Doesn't leave Jaemin alone for more than a second

 

\- Huang Renjun (11 years old)

Son of a thief  
Doesn't have any powers but can take your weapons and you'll only notice it when he'll be gone  
You can't see him without Chenle, they're like the Yusol of the Dreamies (except it's friendship and not love)

 

\- Na Jaemin (10 years old)

Created with Wonder Woman's ADN mixed with Cheetah's  
Weird powers but anyway the hyungs always try to fight more so the Dreamies don't have to  
A bABY  
They got everything wrong he's the real maknae  
Jeno's best friend

 

\- Zhong Chenle (9 years old)

Son of Black Canary, somehow ended with them (jk we all know it's the Joker's or Loki's fault, it's alway because of them)  
Can't use his powers like he wants and is stuck with that weird dolphin laugh  
Renjun's other half, they're Best Friend Goals with the little TM that I'm too lazy to copy-past

 

\- Park Jisung (8 years old)

Son of normal parents, but somehow got Hulk's powers (the Joker was involved in the story)  
When he uses his strenght he always break something or hurts someone and starts crying  
Always with the China Line

 

Johnny and Taeil aren't in the "bad guys" (Johnny is Sehun's brother and Taeil is Jongdae's). About Ten ? Don't worry, I didn't forget him. He'll be there.


	2. - One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NCT is a group made of cHILDREN and Minseok is the only one who knows EXO fucked up.

“Why are you glaring at me ?”

“I’m hoping you’ll spontaneously combust.”

“You don’t have this power, D.O.”

“Let me dream.”

Suho sighed. He didn’t know why he accepted to be the leader of these eight heroes who clearly lacked some maturity. Of course, they were powerful and had some great ideas when it came to saving the world and stopping criminals, but put them in a normal life and they didn’t have a single clue of what to do. Most of them managed to keep a mysterious image, but the others were just socially awkward, not used to socialise with normal humans.

(And there was Chanyeol, aka Iron Man, who was known by everyone and didn’t care about social identity. He was friends with everyone rich and important, which made working with him annoying since he always had something and missed training more often than the others. Still, he was nice and paid their bills.)

“Shouldn’t you be working ?” Suho asked, trying to make the atmosphere less awkward.

Do Kyungsoo was one of the members he liked to talk to the most, but this day, he seemed like the Beagle Line woke him up by screaming in his ears. Suho wanted to live, thank you very much, so he didn’t ask how was his day or what happened to put him in such a bad mood.

“Just got fired.”

Ah.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. Good thing Chanyeol is helping us with the bills, but I don’t like depending on someone, if you get what I mean.”

Suho, who’s real name was Kim Junmyeon, was almost as rich as Chanyeol, so he just shrugged and smiled awkwardly. Unless Chanyeol, he was born with all this money and only made his parents’ empire grow (with the help of his butler, Alfred). Their companies were against each other to be sure that nobody could put one and two together and guess that Suho was one of the best superheroes on Earth.

(Someone once thought he was Xiumin, which lead to an awkward kidnapping, but no. Minseok was doing an awesome job with his frost power, Junmyeon was happy with his ‘I play with the water’ powers.)

“Hyung ! I mean, boss ! Uh, leader ! Whatever.”

Suho sighed again. God, he was so tired of his members unprofessional attitude.

“Name code, Chen. Suho’s here, I’m listening.”

“Tell the others to bring their asses here-”

“Language.”

“For fuc- fudge sake, Suho, we’re all adults !”

“I don’t care. By the way, what’s happening ?”

Chen, who went by Thunder Boy for some years after finally choosing a less-childish name, took some seconds to answer. The explosions in his ear made it easy to guess why.

“Uh, we’re fighting the criminals’ sons ! You know, Joker, Harley Quinn, Loki, these suck- bad guys ? Well, they have kids. Surprise. We want to kidnap them to bring their parents here, get here as soon as possible ! We won’t be able to catch them all if we’re alone.”

“Please don’t do this, Chen,” D.O. supplied him. “Please keep at least some of my respect.”

“And, well, gotta catch them all !”

“Fuck you.”

“Guys, it’s not the time for bad jokes and ‘fuck you’ ! We have a mission,” Suho reminded them. “We’re coming, Chen. Keep fighting ! Tell Xiumin we say hello.”

He quickly called the others superheroes of EXO, the best heroes group on Earth (founded by none other than himself, the great Suho), their faces on one of his big screens (he mostly used them for Netflix marathons, though).

“Guys, we have to join Chen and Xiumin at the Han river. Some bad guys are there. Use every weapon you want, they’re as powerful as their parents.”

“Parents ? Who are they ?” Baekhyun asked.

Baekhyun was special. His ability to copy any moves or, sometimes, power was just a distraction from his real power, light. He was the one who gave powers to the others. Without him, they would be humans, boring, normal humans. He couldn’t think of any good name so he just went by a part of his Chinese name, Xian. Simple, but good since nobody guessed Xian was Byun Baekhyun.

“Chen talked about the Joker, Harley Quinn and Loki. That seems bad.”

“I didn’t know they had children,” Chanyeol mumbled. “How old are they ?”

“Probably adults if they’re fighting in the streets, there aren’t any parents who’d let their kid outside fighting EXO alone if they weren’t old enough,” Suho suggested. “Bring anything, they’re probably good at what they’re doing.”

Some seconds later, him and D.O. were fully dressed, ready to fight.

“Ah, it feels good to wear this again,” Suho sighed, happily this time. “Want to get in the Suhomobile ?”

“I’m still not over this stupid name,” Kyungsoo replied, but the man still sat in the car.

-*-

Jongdae – sorry, _Chen_ – quickly took a step back. The villains were no joke, as powerful as their parents. If only he could know who was the leader… They were moving in sync, as one, like a machine. It meant that they were a team, and a team always had a good leader. Without them, the machine is unable to do well.

“Xiumin ! Can you distract them for a while ? Make them fight, I need to find the leader.”

“They’re probably not dumb,” the older protested. “Whoever they are, they’re probably safe and not in the battle.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Their leader is with them. Trust me.”

The other hesitated, but nodded. They were partners for so long, Minseok learned that Jongdae’s instinct was always right (or not really far from the truth).

Almost as fast as his partner, Minseok ran to one of the villains and raised a hand. Glace began to circle the man, trapping him. It didn’t last for more than a second though, a villain with hair as black as his suit – probably Venom’s child – quickly freed the other with his black, sticky… venom.

“One of them moved faster,” Jongdae told him. “They all looked at him for less than one second and he reacted so fast I almost missed him. He looked at the Venom Junior guy and they understood each other or I don’t know what, there’s probably some telepathic shit going on, but the Venom dude saved the… Poison Ivy, I think ? I saw him move some plants. Anyway, we should go for the hat guy with the blonde hair. The one with a bit of pink and blue… Oh shit, that’s Harley Quinn’s child !”

“Explain the big ass golden stick then ? Doesn’t it look like Loki’s ?”

Jongdae groaned. A “stick” ? That powerful, mass-destructive weapon, a “stick” ?

“Hey, don’t ask me, I’m just telling. Just look at his damn clothes, the shorts, the shirt, the jacket, that’s Quinn’s child. He doesn’t have the bat, but I guess the baseball hat fits the theme.”

“The leader is Quinn’s child. Got it, I’ll try to catch him.”

Minseok stepped back, seeing how Poison Ivy Junior was looking at him. No, he wasn’t looking at him, but behind hi– shit.

He turned around and raised an arm, an ice shield in front of him, and stopped who was probably the Joker’s child and… a kind of dark, masculine (well… actually…) version of Wonder Woman. He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

“What did Taeyeon do, again ?”

“Xiumin, the mission ! Don’t forget it, catch the leader !”

The hero with black hair smirked. As powerful and talented they were, the villains didn’t have his experience. Snapping his fingers, he made giant ice soldiers – thank you for the idea, Elsa – and chose to let them fight for him while he caught the leader.

The latter wasn’t safe like he thought he would be. He was in the middle of the street, where anyone could get him, and didn’t looked away from the fighting members for even a second. Two others villains were with him, for protection or whatever, Minseok didn’t know and didn’t care. He had a nice date with Jongdae and these idiots fucking ruined it, he only wanted to finish this to go back to that nice ice cream shop.

Yeah, a twenty-eight years old man could still like ice cream, mind you.

One of the two villains had a Beetle, these little alien things who gave you super strength and all that shit. Minseok knew Blue Beetle, a hero, and was actually (kind of) scared to see what the Purple one could do. Not scared for himself, of course, but for the villain; the Beetles liked to take control of the other’s body, not even caring about their well-being.

The Purple Beetle moved faster than Xiumin planned, but that wasn’t important. He trained with Johnny, he knew how Beetles reacted and the villain was clearly controlled, making it easier for him to freeze him. Once the Beetle was completely frozen, it affected the owner too. The purple’s one slowly lost his protection and Minseok smirked, happy to have at least one face on a name.

What he saw surprised him. No, screw that, it shocked him.

That wasn’t a man, it was a boy. A small boy with purple hair and a resigned look in his equally purple eyes, as if he knew he was screwed and just gave up. He even looked like he was waiting for the final punch or something like that.

And, _god_ , he surely wasn’t older than _fourteen_.

“Chen. Don’t fuc- freaking hurt them.”

“Dude, you know Suho’s not really gonna make you sleep outside, you can swear. Wait, what ? Why ? They’re bad guys !”

“They’re only kids, Chen. Children.”

Minseok sounded so broken, so hurt to think that _kids_ lived like that, that Jongdae could almost feel his heart break too.

“Are you sure that they’re all kids and not just one of them ?”

“Wait.”

Freezing the boy’s feet on the ground (that part was still protected, Minseok didn’t want to hurt him), the man didn’t even bother to find a strategy and just jumped on the leader, pushing a Green Goblin or something aside and taking the baseball hat. The leader was definitely not much older than Purple Beetle, but had more fight in him. In fact, he moved to put himself between his teammates and Minseok, to protect them. Seeing that someone so young felt the need to protect others from him – he was usually the one doing the protection, not the other way around – using his own body made his heart ache.

“Yeah, pretty sure. I mean, their leader is a child too – and he’s so _tiny_ , how could I miss it ? – so they’re probably all between seventeen and… below.”

“You know what ? Let’s take them with us. The others are there, they’ll help you. Try to distract them, hyung. They’ll be safe with us.”

Xiumin nodded, forgetting that the other hero couldn’t see him, and tried to go near the boy. The latter raised his scepter – and shit, Harley Quinn’s madness plus Loki’s evil need to control everything couldn’t be a good match – and soon, he was unable to move.

Shit.

“Listen kiddo, I won’t hurt you, I want to help !”

The kid snarked.

“Don’t try it. Eyes on here, mister freeze,” he warned him when Minseok looked away, mistaking it as an attempt to hurt Purple Beetle, still at the ground. “Don’t you dare hurt any of them.”

_ Don’t you dare hurt any of them. _

God, he sounded just like Suho when _it_ happened.

It, when they were just newbies and nearly died because of this kid’s father.

“I won’t hurt any of you, I promise !” Minseok tried again.

“Promises don’t mean anything.”

The kid raised his scepter and hesitated. Clearly, he wasn’t ready to seriously hurt someone.

“No, I swear mine means something. Please let me free, I won’t hurt anyone. I will even let your Beetle friend go.”

“Do it first. Let Doy Purple Beetle go.”

Unable to move, Minseok couldn’t use his fingers to move the ice like he usually do, but the kid wouldn’t trust him if he didn’t do it. Eyes on the ice, he slowly made it melt, the most he could do without seriously hurting himself. Even then, he could feel the blood in his nose slowly getting to his mouth. DoySomething looked as surprised as the leader and Green Goblin Jr and quickly ran to the latter, still unable to use his Beetle.

“You’re way too skinny to be healthy” Minseok told him. “We can help you. We don’t hurt kids, even if they’re bad guys.”

“We’re not bad guys” the leader mumbled, “we’re just trying to live. People like you can’t understand.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, but that’s not the right thing to do. Trust me, I won’t put you in jail or whatever. I promise I’ll only give you some food and a better, safe place to live.”

Minseok smiled at the kid when the latter let go of his scepter, breaking the spell.

“Thank you, kiddo. Now, we-”

“Nice job, Xiumin !”

His heart missed a beat.

_ No, not now ! _

Chanyeol quickly took the scepter and managed to put some cuffs on the Goblin, who tried to run as soon as he saw EXO coming. The leader stood still, a betrayed, heart breaking look on his face.

“You promised me” he whispered.

“I didn’t know !” Minseok protested. “Chanyeol, don’t hurt them !”

“I won’t hurt them. I’m gently arresting them.”

When he made a move for Loki Jr, the Venom guy suddenly appeared out of no where to push the boy away from the hero before turning to face Iron Man. Even with that black substance on his face, Minseok could see he was angry.

“Don’t touch him” he snarled, an arm in front of the dyed-haired kid.

“Wow, I don’t know how you managed to distract the fifteen of them for so long, but you did great !” Baekhyun smiled at Minseok, holding Dark Wonder Boy and a boy with hair so blonde it was almost white. “What’s going on with these ones ?”

“I promised them I wouldn’t put them in jail, you can’t do it ! Please, I gave them my word !”

“Well, you only did it to distract them, isn’t it ? It doesn’t mean anything, then. Please take Venom dude and Harley Quinn boy with you, we’re leaving.”

Behind them, a villain with blonde hair was shouting at Suho, who held Joker Jr in his arms. His words made Minseok feel even more guilty :

“Don’t take him away from me !” the boy shouted with a deep, but still young voice which cracked. “Please, don’t take my smile away from me !”

Harley Jr finally moved, seeing Joker Jr in the hero’s arms. Pushing Venom’s arm, he tried to have a better view

“No !” he screamed, face as white as snow. “Yuta ! Hansol-hyung !”

The earth under his feet fell, trapping his legs in the ground. Hansol, the blonde who only reacted at the “hyung”, turned his head toward his fallen leader.

“Yongie !”

It was a mistake, if you asked Minseok. Still shocked of how fast everything just happened, he could only watch Kai teleport himself behind Hansol and knock him unconscious while Sehun used Venom’s soft spot for “Yongie” to do the same. Lay, the member in charge of healing – which didn’t mean he couldn’t fight – and the most obedient of them all (nobody listened to Suho), checked all of the villains, making sure that they weren’t too wounded – Sehun still couldn’t control his strength.

“Perfect ! Let’s bring them to Chanyeol’s” Suho happily said.

Chanyeol whined about “how does it have to be mine ?” and the others laughed while moving, but Minseok stood still. Jongdae put a hand on his shoulder, worried.

“Hyung ? Minseok ? You’re okay ?”

He mumbled something, too low for Jongdae to understand him.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat ?”

“I promised him.”

His lover looked at him with a defeated look.

“I promised him, Jongdae. I promised him I wouldn’t do anything to them and it happened. They aren’t that bad, you’d know it if you took five seconds to talk to them, I finally got one of them to trust me… and he’s probably regretting it now.”

_ What did we do ? _


	3. - Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minseok is angry, EXO is turning into a Civil War Mess and Chanbaek aren't couple goals anymore.

Like every other EXO member, Kai looked at his feet. Minseok was angry, the kind of angry that made him lose control over his powers and Jongin didn’t want to receive a snowball in the face. Xiumin always made them icy and more painful.

     “Nobody told me, it’s not my fault,” Sehun defended himself.

     Wrong move. Minseok looked at him and _oh_ , if he had the power to kill with his glare, Sehun would be dead on the floor.

     “I was talking to their leader, maybe they would have followed us if you didn’t stop me !”

     Nobody was brave enough to look at him in the eyes, not even D.O. Kai was kind of happy; he didn’t want to lose his boyfriend and the oldest of them all looked ready to kill.

     “Calm yourself, Minseok. We will interrogate them, they probably know something about their parents that we could use later. After that, we’ll decide what to do with them.”

     Even Junmyeon and his leader voice almost failed against Xiumin’s fury, but, luckily for them, Minseok respected their leader and just stomped his way out of the room like a kid. Jongdae sighed, rubbing his forehead.

     “I guess I should try to talk to him. They’re just kids, though, I understand why he’s so angry. Some of us were almost like them, you know.”

     “Yes, but nobody here was raised by such psychopaths for so long,” Chanyeol tsk-ed. “They’re rotten, Jongdae. Broken.”

     “They can be fixed !” the blonde man protested. “Wait, what are we talking about, they’re not machines ! They have feelings, unlike your toys.”

     “Their place is in jail,” Sehun stepped him. “They’re dangerous. They can hurt people. Look at their parents !”

     “They’re kids. Children !”

     “For God’ sake, Junmyeon, are you with us or Minseok and Jongdae ?”

     “You mean Minseok, Jongdae and I,” Baekhyun said while glaring at his boyfriend. “Rotten, you said ?”

     Chanyeol’s face went white in a second. It was almost funny, but his boyfriend wasn’t in the mood.

     “They’re young, Chanyeol. They can be saved.”

     “I agree,” Lay quietly said, not looking away from the files in his hands. “They didn’t do much before we got them. Even before, they stole some things, but that’s all. They never hurt anybody, except that one time.”

     “They did ?” Kyungsoo frowned. “They could do it again.”

     “They did it to protect someone !” Lay protested. “They helped a woman who was about to get raped !”

     “They’re not bad.”

     Baekhyun quickly looked at the files. The NCT kids – NCT for… something unknown – were quite mysterious and there wasn’t much on the sheets, except their parents and some other things. They stole a lot of things, but it was from rich stores, nothing who couldn’t afford it. The worst they did, beside breaking a man’s leg, was to paint some walls, to draw things and write curse words on windows, etc. But, with their parents… they had the worst blood, the worst DNA. Mischief was in them.

     “I’m not saying we should let them go now,” he mumbled, thinking about what to do. “We should keep them for some time before choosing what to do.”

     Everybody looked at Jongdae, who raised his hand.

     “What ? I thought we were doing some kind of vote !”

     “Let’s do this,” Suho announced. “Who’s against putting these kids in jail ? For now, I mean.”

     Baekhyun, Lay and him joined Jongdae. Sehun, Jongin, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol looked at each other.

     “Equality.”

     “You forgot Minseok and I think he made it pretty clear : he’s with us.”

     Junmyeon smiled, taking his boyfriend’s hand (and almost let it go because Yixing accidently used his magic on him and it was so _warm_ ).

     “Well, I guess they’re staying.”

 

Minseok opened the door and winced. Seeing an eight-year-old boy alone in a cell was kind of disturbing and he certainly didn’t like it. The kid was pressed against the wall, as close as possible to the other kid, which happened to be the leader. Minseok stepped in the hallway, each one of them turning their head to look at him. When he recognized him, Yongie clenched his teeth and turned away. The hero sighed and sat in front of his cell.

     “Hi, Yongie.”

     “Don’t call hyung Yongie,” the eight-year-old snapped, clenching his little fists. “He don’t want you to.”

     “Doesn’t want to,” Yongie quickly corrected him, probably by instinct.

     “Oh, I’m sorry. Is it your real name ?”

     The kid didn’t answer and put his hands over his ears. He didn’t want to talk to him, it was clear, but Minseok had to get rid of his guilt.

     “I’m really sorry for what happened. They can be pretty stupid sometimes.”

     “I guess it runs in the group, then,” the Venom boy shouted from his cell. “He doesn’t want to talk to you, can’t you see it ?”

     “Leave our leader alone,” the blonde one said. “And give me back my Yuta.”

     By “his Yuta”, Minseok guessed he talked about another member of the group. Probably the Joker Junior one. He remembered how he fought against them to protect him even if he could perfectly escape, but chose to stay for him. Maybe they were bad, but they were also loyal.

     “He deserves an apology. I made a promise and I didn’t keep it.”

     “He deserves more than an apology,” Venom said, his crossed arms against his chest.

     “Enough, Jaehyun.”

     The leader didn’t talk loudly, but Jaehyun seemed to understand him as he just tsk-ed and sat on his bed. The others were watching them in silence. When Minseok saw the Purple Beetle boy looking at him, he felt a bit of guilt go as the teenager didn’t seem injured. Lay was probably behind this, Xiumin was pretty sure he froze the villain’s arm until it bleed in their fight… before he knew he was a child, of course.

     “Promises don’t mean anything. I believed him, I’m the one at fault.”

     “Don’t blame yourself, Taeyong. It’s not worth it. They tricked you, it could have been anyone in our group. We don’t blame you.”

     The blonde – he suddenly remembered his name was Hansol – didn’t look away from Yuta, the Joker’s boy, but his voice went incredibly soft as he talked to his leader. Yes, they were villains, but their good relationship was different from every villain group Minseok fought against. They seemed to sincerely care for each other and probably wouldn’t give up on one of them in a fight. That was nice to know; after all, they had children under ten in their team.

     “I’m trying to apologise, could you please listen to me ?”

     “No. Hyung doesn’t want to. Go away,” a boy with weird blond and pink hair said in broken Korean with a heavy accent – he was probably from China.

     Minseok understood he wouldn’t be able to apologise like he wanted to; at least, not for now. Sighing again, he bowed and turned away. When he closed the door, he leaned against it.

     Yeah, they fucked up.

 

“Baekkie…”

     “Don’t you dare Baekkie me, Park Chanyeol,” Baekhyun hissed while slapping his boyfriend’s arm away. “How could you vote for jail ? They’re just kids !”

     “That wasn’t much of a problem when you fought against them.”

     Chanyeol immediately regretted his reply when his boyfriend’s face went as white as snow. He knew the older felt like shit for fighting children, but they did the right thing. They were young, but dangerous, they had to be stopped and EXO only did their job. Baekhyun was just too sensitive, that’s all.

     “How dare you ?” he hissed, eyes full of anger and sadness. “I didn’t know they were kids, Chanyeol. I would have stopped, I would… I wouldn’t fight children. It’s bad. They grew up with the wrong people, that’s all. We can’t change that, give them a second chance. I’m sure they can be saved.”

     “Enough with that second chance bullshit, it won’t work and you know it.”

     “Stop being an asshole ! You don’t know anything, _we_ don’t know anything about them. Min-hyung is the only one who talked with them and it made him against fighting them, he tried to stop us. Do you think he did that because the kids seemed bad ? Hyung always had a good instinct, we should trust it. If you can’t, just trust _him_. He knows what he’s doing.”

     Chanyeol sighed. Baekhyun was a big softie and he loved it, but not when it placed him in a dangerous position. Of course Baekhyun would pity some children even if they were the sons of the biggest villains in the world, _of course_.

     “Hyung, you’re tired. You should sleep.”

     The red-haired man walked past the older, not wanting to argue more with him. They loved each other and they didn’t usually argue, so it was difficult for both of them to get into such an argument. Chanyeol hated that the kids were responsible of that; they weren’t worth fighting over them.

     Baekhyun’s broken voice made him turn his head so fast he feared he broke his neck :

     “So, that’s it ? Go to sleep and it’s over ? Is it how you wanted your father to act when he found me ?”

     “Baekhyun, no, it’s… different. I don’t want us to fight when it’s not worth it. Also, there’s nothing to talk about. They’re dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

     “So this whole thing is just you being worried for me ? I can perfectly take care of myself, I’m not a kid !”

     Baekhyun stopped him, taking his arm. Chanyeol could see he was hurt and angry, but didn’t have the time to take back his words.

     “Fine. I’ll go to sleep. Not in your bed. Have fun sleeping alone because I’m tired of your bullshit.”

     As he watched Baekhyun leave, Chanyeol kicked the wall, stopping himself for screaming.

_They’re already problematic… these kids are only trouble._


	4. - Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To quote a reader that I love very much thank you, "Johnny and Taeil show up, spend about 5 to 10 minutes with the boys and nearly kill Jisung with a sandwich. Beautiful work, boys."

The next day, Junmyeon immediately called the kids’ parents – only the heroes ones, of course. Taeyeon swore she didn’t have any kids, but the dark Wonder Kid couldn’t be anyone’s but hers. The youngest of the group had Minho’s DNA and the loud one was Irene’s. Wonder Woman, Hulk and Black Canary accepted to pass by and he thanked them. Only Irene seemed to know she had a kid and started to cry when he told her they found this little purple-haired boy, who turned to be the son she lost when he was a baby, thanks to the Joker.

     “For god’ sake, this is getting awkward,” the leader sighed as he put his cup in the stink after his daily dose of coffee.

     “What ? Taking care of those kids ?”

     “Minseok, we’re barely taking care of them,” Jongdae stepped in. “We just put them away. Did they have breakfast ?”

     Suho didn’t remember if he made someone in charge of it, so that was probably a no.

     “Oh god, I think they didn’t. Shit. Where’s Kyungsoo ?”

     “Can’t you cook by yourself ?”

     “Can’t you breathe without Minseok ?” Junmyeon sassed back while walking away from the kitchen, searching for the hero. “Kyungie ! D.O ?”

     When he opened his room’s door and found him making out with Jongin, he let out a high-pitched noise and tripped on his own feet while trying to step back.

     “That’s why you should knock, you panini head !” Jongin yelled.

     “Knock knock knock knock knock on my door.”

     “Shut the fuck up, Dae,” Baekhyun groaned, closing the guest’s room’s door behind him. “God, it’s too early for this bullshit.”

     “What’s happening ? Baekhyun, why aren’t you with Chanyeol ?” Yixing asked, rubbing his eyes. Junmyeon cooed at his messy hair and tried to restrain himself for hugging his too adorable boyfriend (he failed).

     “We had a fight, nothing to worry about. What are we doing with the kids now ? They can’t stay here forever.”

     “Wait, a fight ? You guys are couple goals !” Jongin repeated, shocked.

     “Yeah, but even the best couples fight sometimes. Can we not talk about this ?”

 

“Yes, it would be nice,” Yuta complained. “I don’t fudging care about their love life.”

     The boys were awake and bored, but not hungry. They were used to the lack of food and missing breakfast wasn’t something that only happened once or twice a week. Honestly, Yuta couldn’t remember the last time he ate one. It probably wasn’t so long ago, but he gave everything to the Dreamies. It was a non-spoken rule in NCT : whenever they manage to get some food, the Dreamies eat first and the others only eat once their babies aren’t hungry anymore.

     “Hansol and you is that. Uh, like that.” Winwin tried.

     Sicheng was Chinese and didn’t talk much. The adults said his accent was annoying and didn’t allow him to talk for more than a few words. Of course, the NCT kids always let him talk whenever he wanted too, but he hated his accent and thought it was something bad. Yuta and the others, though, liked it. It was cute and not something to worry about.

     “Hansol and you are like that,” Hansol corrected. “Wait, that’s wrong ! We’re not annoying and fighting over useless things !”

     “First, Winwin, don’t say that. They’re cute and being together makes them feel good,” Taeyong defended them, his forehead against the glass wall, trying to be as close to the others as he could without even being aware of it. “Second, Hansol, those useless things that couple fought about are us.”

     “That’s what I said. Useless things.”

     “So you think Yuta is useless ? You think we are useless ?” Doyoung said.

     Hansol quickly took back his words and Doyoung almost smiled. They all often said things like that and nobody saw themselves as someone interesting, precious, who deserved to be loved. When one of the boys started to talk badly of the group by thinking about themselves, the only way to make him take back his words was to mention the others. For the next generation of the worst blood, they were so selfless it almost made him laugh – if he wasn’t one of them, he would probably do it; the irony game was strong with them.

     “Well, we don’t think you are, Hansol.”

     “Bunny, that’s nice of you, but…”

     “You’re not. End of the discussion.”

     Hansol looked at Taeyong with both fondness and worry. Only Yuta and Taeyong could get those looks, the first one being his boyfriend and the last one being like his little brother. Taeyong always made sure all of them got at least one hug a day and tried to make them feel loved without thinking about himself. Hansol was the older, he should be the one doing this, but the younger wasn’t getting any of this. That’s why they made him their leader, he was already taking care of them and they already listened to every single word that left his mouth.

     “Bro, I love you. Bro, love yourself before loving someone else. Ladies and gentlemen, the evilest dudes out there !” a deep voice suddenly shouted with an amused tone.

     “Pretty sure evilest isn’t even a word, Johnny-ah.”

     “Yes, it is, hyung.”

     “Who are you and what are you doing here ?”

     Two boys closed the door behind them after making sure EXO didn’t hear them. The ‘bro’ one was even taller than Hansol, but his smile and his brown hair made him look soft and unable to hurt a fly. That’s why Doyoung backed off against the opposite wall. His Beetle looked harmless too and, well, you don’t judge a book by its cover.

     The second one was so small Taeyong guessed he was taller than him and almost smiled (Mark was younger than him by four years but he was already taller and the NCT boys always teased him for being so small). He looked softer than the tall one, but Taeyong knew he was older than him and probably everyone in the room. He walked with confidence and the way Johnny looked at him showed his respect.

     And he also called him hyung. That helped, too.

     “I’m Johnny and the little softie here is Taeil ! We knew the grown ups were too busy fooling around and starting drama to give you some food so we came here,” the tall one smiled proudly before Taeil punched his arm.

     “Stop calling them grown ups, you’re sixteen, not six ! Act your age and not your shoe size !”

     “Come on, we’re talking to little kids !” Johnny defended himself while pointing at Taeyong, Donghyuck snorting loudly at his leader being mistaken for a kid. “Also, my shoe size is higher than my age. Wait, you just used a Vine reference !”

     “If you’re not going to act your shoe size, stop talking. The poor children will get scared.”

     Donghyuck let out a laugh when Taeil pointed Taeyong, who crossed his arms.

     “First, I’m not a child. Second, that fudging idiot can’t scare us, we’ve seen worst.”

     “Did you really say fudging ?”

     Taeil just rolled his eyes and pushed a button. A part of the doors opened so he could give them some food and Jisung pouted when he saw he wasn’t small enough to escape. Taeil walked to him and gave him a little juice box and a slice of bread with something on it. Winwin was the first to see what it was and threw himself on the door to catch his attention. He hissed and put a hand on his shoulder, Taeyong turning his head at an inhuman speed to look at him.

     “Sicheng-ie, you’re okay ? What happened ?”

     “Peanuts ! Jisung !”

     Taeil looked at the bread in his hand and frowned. What was the problem ? The blue haired boy didn’t like peanut butter ? Mark knocked on his door, the oldest turning his head to look at him.

     “Don’t give him anything with peanuts, Jisung is allergic.

     “O-Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

     Johnny groaned and threw the bread away. Renjun yelped when the slice got stuck on his door and slowly went down, leaving a line on the glass.

     “That’s disgusting. Taeyong-hyung would have a panic attack, don’t do that,” the child whined.

     “Taeil, I told you it was a bad idea. Let’s just give them some cereals or I don’t know.”

     “What if one of them is lactose intolerant ?”

     “And what if you stopped acting like we weren’t there ?” Hansol asked, leaning on the glass. “No one here is lactose intolerant. Also, Yuta likes whatever tastes like watermelon, Taeyong will eat anything with chocolate or strawberries and the Dreamies love sugar, but get way too excited when they eat some so you probably shouldn’t let them since, you know, we’re freaking trapped here without any way to use all that energy.”

     “We all know you would just suck Yuta’s face and it would be a pain to watch,” Jaehyun mumbled so low Johnny and Taeil couldn’t hear him.

     Yuta scoffed and crossed his arms.

     “You’re just jealous because you still don’t make a move on your obvious, not subtle at all crush.”

     They started arguing until the others two left. When the door closed behind them, Taeyong snapped his fingers and they stopped, everyone listening to him.

     “Now that everyone is calm, I have something to say, but we need to be alone.”

     He pointed at a camera, who flashed a bright pink light. He grinned, satisfied.

     “They will see the same thing in loop, we’re safe. That small guy made a mistake, I can use a little bit of my powers now that I got some air from outside. I think it’s enough to escape.”

     Chenle coughed and raised his hand.

     “Gege, you should wait. I heard them, someone is coming and they want to see us. It will be easy more to escape after. How was my Korean ?”

     “Uh, almost perfect, birdie. You’re doing great.”

     “It was really good,” Jeno praised him. “Better than Renjun.”

     “Don’t tease your brother, you’re being mean,” Taeyong scowled him, more out of habit than because Renjun was hurt.

     The boys stopped talking, waiting for Chenle to hear something. His ears were as weird as his voice and he could hear more things than normal people. That’s why he heard the heroes walking toward the door before the others.

     “They’re coming !” he whispered.

     Chanyeol opened the door. All of EXO was there with a blonde girl, a black-haired man and a girl wearing a red crown on her hair as black as a crow. The blonde one looked a bit like Jaemin and the boy took a few steps back in his cell when he realized it. The man didn’t look like any of them and looked kind even if he was as tall as Johnny. The woman with the red crown had a bitchy face and an intimidating aura, but she lost it when she saw Chenle. Without the tall man’s help, she would probably have fell on the floor, hands on her mouth.

     “Chenle ?” she called with a broken voice. “He’s… He’s my baby, isn’t he ? That’s him, right ?”

     “Yes, that’s your Chenle,” Suho smiled before Winwin growled at him.

     “Our Chenle,” he corrected them, eyes as angry as the others’. “He doesn’t belong to you.”

     “Irene,” the tall man warned her, a hand on her arm to keep her from jumping at the blonde and pink haired boy to skin him alive.

     “I’m his _mother_ ,” she snarled. “He doesn’t have anything to do here. They stole my baby from me and I want him back in my arms, you worthless…”

     The blonde one put a hand on her mouth and sent her an icy look.

     “Irene, please, they’re children. They’re all victims. Don’t be angry at them, it’s not their fault.”

    “Taeyeon, it’s my baby, my little boy,” Irene pleaded. “Their parents took him from me. I just want him back. Look at him, I missed everything. His first word, his first steps, everything. It’s been eight years without him, I thought they killed him.”

     Renjun put his hand on the wall, trying to get as close as the other Chinese boy as he could. His best friend was obviously struggling to breathe and nobody was there to help him.

     “Where’s the little Hulk one ?”

     Baekhyun pointed at Jisung, smiling.

     “There. I’m sure you could help the poor kid with his powers, he seems like he’s having trouble controlling them.”

     “I hope so. I’ll do my best.”

     “Thank you, Minho-hyung.”

     _So, Taeyeon, Irene and Minho…_ Renjun thought, trying to remember the names. Names were powerful and Taeyong could easily cast a spell on someone if he knew their name. Also, if they hurt any of them, it would be easier to find them.

     Kai teleported himself in Jaemin’s cell and took him by the arm before teleporting next to Taeyeon, who quickly put an arm around the boy’s waist to restrain him. He did it again for Jisung and Chenle and soon, the boys were with the three heroes. The NCT kids were anything but happy and watched the heroes leave with their baby brothers without doing anything. Jeno and Renjun started to cry as they saw Jaemin and Chenle leave and a flower suddenly popped off the ground, thanks to Mark and Winwin’s panic. Jaehyun couldn’t use his powers and clenched his teeth, hating how useless he was. Hansol was too busy worrying about Taeyong to do anything : as soon as the door closed, the boy let out a cry and dropped on his knees, a pink light coming from his hands. He slammed them against the glass of his cell and it turned to purple before it exploded in silence. Hansol watched his little brother close his eyes and fall on the ground, too tired to move. Well, at least, one of them was free and could help their babies in a few moments.

 

Jaemin hated being chained, but it wasn’t like he could refuse to be. They didn’t give him much of a choice and it was easy to guess why : without being restrained, the boy would’ve take the chance to leave and they couldn’t simply leave his family and him alone. Urgh.

     “What’s your name, sweetheart ?” Taeyeon kindly asked in a soft voice.

     “Why do you ask ? It’s on your papers. You already know it.”

     She smiled like he wasn’t chained to that uncomfortable plastic chair and it annoyed him. Couldn’t she just drop the act and say what she wanted from him ?

     “Yes, but I want you to tell me. I want to know more about you. You’re my son, artificial or not.”

     “I am NOT your son ! I’m not from your family ! My only family is the hyungs and I don’t wanna be part of your one !”

     She didn’t correct his vocabulary and he frowned. He didn’t know what he said wrong, but something felt off and it was very unusual to not having one of his hyungs correcting him. It made him feel uneasy and alone.

     “Sweetie, you were made with my DNA and Cheetah’s. You are my son and it’s my responsibility to take care of you. Irene is a good psychologist, she’ll help you fight this trauma and maybe you’ll be able to go to school.”

     “I don’t care about your dream of a perfect family or whatever. I don’t need help and I don’t need to go to school, I never went and it’s okay like this. I don’t want to talk to you, bring me back to my hyungs !”

     Taeyeon didn’t lost her smile, but had to stop herself from sighing. The boy refused to cooperate and it was making this awkward and way harder than she thought.

 

Meanwhile, Irene wasn’t much better. Chenle refused to talk except for asking her to bring him back to the others. She couldn’t do that, she finally found her only child and she wasn’t going to let him slip through her fingers like the Joker did. He didn’t remember her at all and it hurt more than she thought.

     “You were only one year old when he took you away,” she said, trying to catch his attention. “Your dad already left and you were the only family I had. You know, I used to be on the bad guys’ side too.”

     The boy didn’t even raise his head. She sighed and played with her fingers. She dreamed about this moment almost every night and now, she didn’t know what to say.

     “When I held you in my arms for the first time, you were so tiny, so fragile, I just wanted to protect you. Being a bad guy isn’t safe, so I stopped stealing and doing that sh- thing. Red Velvet could have chose to hurt me, but they told me they trusted me and if I thought it was the best for us, they would accept it. We turned the group into a good team, we became heroes who fought for the innocents and protect the good. Joker didn’t like it, so he took you away from me. My little baby… you didn’t even say your first word before leaving. I missed all the good moments and it’s already been eight years… Your face still looks like back then.”

     Chenle slammed his hand (chained to the armchair) against the table, but didn’t talk. Irene looked away, holding her tears. She finally found her son, but he wasn’t hers.

 

“Hoaw you do that, hyung ?” Jisung asked with his so special pronunciation which always made the hyung coo at his cuteness.

     Minho laughed. The kid was curious and eager to learn. Five minutes passed by and Jisung was now free of his chains and playing with him.

     “It’s easy, you just have to be careful not to use too much strength.”

     The boy pouted and crossed his arms.

     “I can’t do it. I’m too strong. I always hurt my brothers when I play with them.”

     Minho smiled at him and caressed his head.

     “It’s not your fault, kiddo. You don’t mean to, do you ?”

     The child quickly shook his head, horrified.

     “I don’t ! I love them ! The hyungs always tell me it’s not my fault but it is because I’m the one who is making them cry when I hurt them.”

     The kid seemed sweet and easy to work with. Minho could easily imagine him growing up to be a superhero if he had the training and education for.

     Before he could talk again, a red light illuminated the room and an alarm made him wince and put his hands on his ears for a second before he remembered Jisung was there. Surprisingly, the boy didn’t look scared and just sat there, smiling and knocking on the ground to the rhythm of his favorite song.

     _The hyungs are coming for me._

 

When he heard the alarm, Jaemin smiled. He just had enough time to subtly break his chains (his arms hurt and there was blood on his wrists, but that wasn’t the point). When Taeyeon noticed his smile, he grinned and pulled on his chains another time, finally free the second later. Without letting her the time to stop him, he flew towards the door, slamming it open, and started searching for Jisung, knowing his hyungs would go to the youngest one first. He met Chenle on the way, who heard Jisung’s knocks and used it to find him. Taeyong did the same thing and threw himself on the door, opening it with a loud sound and wincing at the pain in his shoulder. Seeing Jisung so close to Minho made his heart crazy and he put himself between them, holding the child in his arms and turning his back to the adult to make sure Jisung was safe and protected.

     Minho didn’t have the time to react as Jaemin and Chenle flew (or ran, for the last one) into the room, jumping on their hyung to hug him as strongly as they could. He didn’t miss how Jisung simply let the others hug him and didn’t move at all, probably afraid to hurt them. From what he saw, they were all kept away for the others and, obviously, it hurt them more than anything. The three Dreamies even shed a tear (or started crying very loudly in Chenle’s case).

     “Stay away from them,” the oldest one all but growled. “Don’t you dare touch my babies.”

     He heard a groan and turned his head, seeing Chanyeol pointing at him while Baekhyun looked about to explode.

     “See ? That’s what I meant. They’re dangerous. He just got out of his cell, for fuck’ sake !”

     Jisung started crying at the swear word and Taeyong dropped on his knees to caress his wet cheeks while mumbling some kind words in a soothing voice, an arm around the other two. He didn’t care about the heroes, two of his babies were crying and he had to take care of them.

     “Dangerous, uh ? I see,” Minseok mocked him. “I feel very threatened by all the pet names he said in two seconds. Truly something dangerous, it shouldn’t be allowed to say so much in a so short period of time.”

     “He only wanted to protect them,” Yixing stepped in. “Poor little thing.”

     Kyungsoo frowned.

     “Don’t you dare go all soft mode on him when he just escaped of one of our cell, mister sheep.”

     “Again ? I was drunk, stop calling me that !”

     Taeyong couldn’t care less about their argument and closed his eyes, holding his boys tight. He knew they would be sent back to their cells, but at least they would have each other at eyesight again. Having them away for a whole hour (he fainted and woke up after fifty minutes or so) when he couldn’t know if they were okay was horrible. For someone else, it wouldn’t be long, but fifty minutes were enough to be killed. That was the world they were used to.


	5. - Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol may not be as much as an asshole as they think and Taeyong is the best leader NCT could ask for.

_ Miracles in December exist _ , Lay thought as he opened the door.

“Hi, kids ! Are you hungry ?”

No one replied, either turning their back to him or just staring without saying a word, which was kind of creepy.

“Since it’s Christmas, we’re going to let you out of your cells for the day. Nice, isn’t it ?”

“Stop that bull- thing. What do you want ?”

Yixing didn’t miss how Taeyong glared at… Jaehyun before the latter corrected himself. Seeing the confused looks of some of the kids, they tried to make sure the children didn’t swear.

Cute.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and gently pushed him away. The smallest kid glared at him and crossed his arms, turning his head away.

“Well, it’s Christmas, we thought it would be nice to let you out since you can’t spend the day with your family,” Jongdae softly said while smiling sweetly at the kid with the weird name… Winwin.

Those names were hard to remember but, to their defense, EXO had thirteen names to memorize. It was like meeting Seventeen again.

Of course, the team no-jail (TNJ, as they called it) had a hard time convincing the others, but “come on, it’s Christmas !” revealed itself to be a valuable argument. Also, Junmyeon almost threw away their gifts. It did the job too, Junmyeon always found the best gift, the one you didn’t even know you needed.

“Christmas without my family is already fun,” Donghyuck (or was it Haechan ? Was Haechan just a nickname ?) shrugged, perfectly fine with the idea of spending the holidays alone. “Well, that’s not exact. The hyungs and the Dreamies are there, I’m with my family.”

“It would still be nice to be freed, though,” Mark said with pouty lips. “I didn’t have my good night hug. You’re mean.”

“Wow, such dangerous, scary kids,” Baekhyun sassed while looking at Chanyeol. “I’m terrified.”

Winwin frowned, confused.

“That wasn’t scary. Mark isn’t scary. He hugs people. Hugs are nice.”

“Someone helps me, I’m about to throw up a sparkly rainbow.”

The oldest – Hansol – looked at the Chinese boy with a half-smile on the face.

“That was sarcasm, WinWinnie.”

“Enough, Baekhyun.”

Junmyeon opened all their doors with a small remote before putting it back in his front pocket, close to his heart. For a while, nobody moved, the children probably waiting to see if it was a trap and the heroes expecting them to attack as soon as they were free. They were wrong : Taeyong slowly put a foot out of his cell and they almost stopped breathing. It was kind of funny, but Minseok didn’t have the heart to laugh. The way they looked at each other, like they craved for their touch, was desperate and they still didn’t move.

Taeyong stepped outside and waited, clenching his teeth. To their surprise, nothing happened and Yixing gave them his best smile, the one he used to calm scared children when they fought villains.

“See ? It’s okay, you can do it. There isn’t any trap. Come on, it’s Christmas, you deserve it.”

“Boys. He’s… right. It’s okay.”

Taeyong didn’t even have the time to close his mouth before chaos started. Yuta threw himself – with enough strength to knock off even Kyungsoo – at Hansol, who didn’t even blink before circling his waist with his arms. The Dreamies joined their hands in a group hug before the Chinese kids hugged Winwin while the others jumped on Taeyong, who probably would have met the floor if Jaehyun didn’t catch him. Smiling for the first time, the leader raised his hands towards Doyoung and wiggled them, the younger boy laughing at him and joining the group hug.

“There isn’t anything as pure as this and I’m probably going to cry.”

Jongin jokingly punched Jongdae’ shoulder.

“You’re such a crybaby, Dae.”

“Well, maybe if some of you didn’t put children alone in a cell for so long, I wouldn’t feel the need to cry and to throw a knife in someone’s eyes.”

Yuta winced and quickly put a hand over his eyes. The Jeno kid glared at Jongdae, who quickly apologized.

“Watch your mouth, they’re kids,” Kyungsoo warned him.

“Oh, because now, you remember that ?”

“Can you, like, stop fighting ? It’s seriously annoying. Even my parents don’t argue as much as you do,” Donghyuck shouted while hugging – or trying to strangle, Jongdae couldn’t decide – Mark.

Someone faked a cough and they all stepped aside, letting Irene, Taeyeon and Minho join them. Chenle put Renjun in front of him, Jaemin growled at Taeyeon and Jisung kept glancing at Minho, but never left Taeyong’s arms, hiding his head between his neck and his shoulder when the man smiled at him. Handing Jaemin to Jaehyun, Taeyong stood up, Jisung on his hips and Mark never letting go of his shirt.

“You won’t take them away again. Never.”

Taeyeon put a hand on Irene’s mouth and smiled at her.

“Sweetheart, I think you already scared them enough. Do you want your son to love you or…?”

Minho waved at Jisung, not moving too fast to make sure they all saw his every move. Doyoung appreciated it and he shared a glance with Jisung. The kid wasn’t as nervous as he thought he would be and it was only his shy personality and his fear to be tricked again who stopped him from walking to the tall man.

“Hi, blueberry. EXO told me you wouldn’t be with your parents for this Christmas, so I bought you some Legos.”

“Blueberry ?” Winwin repeated. “Those are fruits, right ? Why you are calling him a food ?”

Too busy to correct him, Yuta let his forehead rest on Hansol’s chest, guessing Jisung’s love for the color blue had something to do with the nickname.

“I don’t want Legos,” Jisung said, still not looking at the other. “Not fair for others because they don’t have gifts.”

Taeyeon stopped looking at Jaemin for a second to coo at Jisung.

“You can share, if you want. I bought you three boxes, that’s more than enough for you and your brothers.”

“We’ll talk about toys later, those poor cuties must be hungry, aren’t they ?”

“Blondie, those poor cuties are perfectly able to understand you even if you talk like they were adults.”

Mark blushed and took Donghyuck’s hand to calm him.

“I’m hungry, can we go now ?”

Kyungsoo didn’t miss how Irene’s eyes went dark when she saw her son making sure he wasn’t too close to her, but it was obvious to anyone who knew her that she wasn’t angry, only sad. That kid was a fool for refusing to go with her, his mother who could give him safety, food and everything a child could need and want.

Yeah, the kid was a fool, but Kyungsoo could relate.

 

Jongin watched the kids follow them to the kitchen and it was more than enough to be able to say that Taeyong was everything but a leader. He went ahead of the other boys and when they finally sat at the table, they all waited for him to start eating. A few seconds later, he nodded and they ate like they were starving, which was probably true. Everyone always waited for his signal before doing something and it was getting on Jongin’s nerves. Jisung seemed to like Minho, but was way too afraid of his so-called leader to go to him. The hero guessed Taeyong was a bad influence and it caused them to do bad stuff, easy. Take out the bad one and the others will be saved.

“Don’t judge so fast,” Kyungsoo whispered in his ear when he noticed his husband glaring at the boy.

“He acts as if they were his slaves or whatever Loki would call them, it’s disgusting.”

Kyungsoo didn’t reply for a bit, too busy helping Jisung putting the straw in his juice box. The others didn’t even look at them, but the man knew they were ready to jump on him if the child asked them so.

“They trust them. Look at him, he’s not according his trust too easily. Minho gave him toys, that would be enough to win any kid’s heart, but this one is smart. They trust each other, there is a reason why.”

Jongin sighed.

“I still don’t like it. Venom Jr keeps…”

“Jaehyun. His name is Jaehyun,” Kyungsoo added when his love raised an eyebrow. “They’re not their parents.”

“We’ll see about that.” The youngest mumbled before raising his voice a little bit, still making sure the children couldn’t hear them. “Anyway, Jaehyun keeps giving him most of his food. You can perfectly see how hungry they are, but poor boy almost gives his whole plate.”

“Uh, can I have my juice now ? Pwease ?”

“Jisung.”

“I mean, please.”

Hansol smiled at the boy and pinched his cheek, his soft smile turning into a teasing grin. Jongin almost cried when he surprised Kyungsoo looking at them with a half smile.

“Soo, not you too !”

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t put them in cells, I just think it would be wiser to wait before sending them to jail. They’re just kids, after all.”

Surprisingly, the kids didn’t talk much. They expected them to act like children and talk loudly about everything and anything, but they seemed too busy to watch their surroundings, as if planning to escape and checking for traps. Junmyeon started to like them, they said thank you and please, something that his members, eight adults, always forgot.

Sehun couldn’t stop looking at Baekhyun and Chanyeol. The couple sat beside each other without talking and it got awkward. Even Jeno and Renjun, who sat beside them, knew something was off. Tired of hearing Jongin and Kyungsoo argue over the kids’ relationship (they didn’t need another couple fight, no thanks), he turned to Irene.

His relationship with Irene was… complicated. They used to be best friends before dating and everything went in the trash when they broke up. They were so close they could finish the other’ sentences, but they mistook that friendship for love and it ruined their good relationship. Now, they were acting as strangers. Sehun missed his best female friend, he was trying to ask one of his coworkers on a date, but the girl was kinda intimidating.

Yeah, he could easily fight the Joker and call it something fun, but love was never easy.

“What do you want, Sehun ?”

“You’re a psychologist, could you watch how the kids act towards their leader – the one with the blonde-with-some-pink-and-blue hair – and tell us why they do so ? Please ?”

Irene put down her glass to look at him, chin in her hand.

“And why should I do that ?”

“Well… Jongin and Kyungsoo are fighting about if the kids are or aren’t treated as slaves by their leader and, with Baekhyun and Chanyeol not talking to each other, we really don’t need more dramas. Beside, your son is one of them, wouldn’t you want to kick Taeyong’s ass if your son is treated as Jongin said ?”

“Of course I’d want to. I’ll do it, don’t worry about it. For now, nothing seems off.”

“Except for Jaehyun giving him half of his plate, you mean.”

Irene rolled her eyes and Sehun felt dumb without even knowing why.

“You’re not really paying attention to those kids, are you ? Jaehyun wouldn’t have to give him his food if bad-evil-leader would let the kids take their own. As soon as one of them eat something, he gives away a part of his plate. I didn’t see him eat except for tasting everything before they started to eat.”

Irene’s voice got softer and softer as she talked, a fond look on her face. Sehun raised an eyebrow, surprised.

“You sound like you like them, didn’t you try to jump on one of them ?”

“I had every right to be a little bit… mad. Someone stole my son after all, I admit I got a bit crazy, but… that Taeyong kid takes care of him and the others make sure he’s okay and not alone. My son could have escaped from here, but he chose to get to Taeyong, Jaemin and… Jisung, sorry. That says a lot. Now, if you want me to tell you more about how they act, I have to see more. Make them move, get out of the kitchen. I need to see how they move.”

“Aye aye, captain.”

 

Some hours later, Johnny and Taeil were watching NCT in a closed room while EXO, Taeyeon and Minho left to talk with Irene. The black-haired hero sat on a table, grinning.

“I got some news for you, especially Jongin and Kyungsoo. I watched these kids all day and I have a lot to say. First, dear Jongin, stop taking for granted they’re as evil as their parents. Their leader isn’t bad at all, he even reminds me of Junmyeon. He tastes the food to make sure there isn’t any poison, he walks in front of them all to be the first to be hit if there’s a trap, he gives them his food even if there is plenty of it… it’s by instinct. They’re so used to act this way that they won’t change it. Even if they don’t need to, they’ll do it without thinking about it.”

“And what comes after first ?”

“Second. You don’t have to trust them, but don’t think they’re evil to the point of fighting other NCT members. Each one looks after the others. Of course, some have their favorites – like Hansol with Yuta and Taeyong – but they all look ready to take a bullet for every other kid and that says a lot, especially with the parents who raised them and the kind of education they must had. Also, they were probably all abused. A lot of them have the same kind of marks we found on their parents’ victims, like the J sign craved into their skin or the scars Poison Ivy’s acid left. Treat them with care. I had to see that fucking J on my _son_ , you better not scare him.”

“I’m not Chanyeol,” Baekhyun retorted. “I will never forget that they’re kids before everything else. If EXO didn’t come for me, I’d probably be in the streets, stealing to live like some of us did too.”

Chanyeol groaned.

“That’s why you want to protect them so much… they remind you of your past, aren’t they ?”

“Not everyone can be rich, Chan.”

“Baekkie, you’re not like them, you weren’t raised…”

“That’s why. These kids could be me if my parents raised me to be evil. To be honest, I don’t think I could have lived their life without dying or thinking about ending it all. These kids are each one’ strength and will to live. They’re still fighting and it breaks my heart that kids have to go through all of this. They’re so young, Chanyeol.”

Tears started to roll down Baekhyun’s round cheeks and he finally accepted Chanyeol’s hug, the taller holding him in his arms as he put his around his neck, hiding his face in the other’s chest.

“They’re just _children_ , Chanyeol. Children.”

_ They’re still dangerous _ , Chanyeol thought.

Despite thinking it, he didn’t say anything and fought back tears. He couldn’t do the same mistake and trust someone easily. His mistake took them three members, he couldn’t let his family getting even smaller.

He couldn’t and he wouldn’t, even if it meant having to put children in jail.

Still, his heart broke for them.


	6. - Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark is copying Taeyong, #NCTProtectionSquad get worried about it and Chanyeol isn't an asshole.
> 
> Also, the author is tired and probably made a lot of typos.

Baekhyun couldn’t believe he used to date Taeyeon. Don’t get him wrong, his ex was lovely outside and inside, but he couldn’t help but find her incredibly annoying at the moment.

     “He’s so cute, I bet he has my smile ! Oh, and he probably likes chocolate too ! I brought the blanket and the teddy bear my parents gave me when I was a kid, should I bring chocolate next time ? Maybe with a few toys ?”

     First of all, Baekhyun couldn’t care less about the pink blanket and the old toy. Next, the kid refused to even talk to her and yet she acted as if he loved her already.

     “What if he loves vanilla ?”

     Taeyeon dropped a pillow on one of the fifteen beds, a bright smile flashing on her pretty face that once made Baekhyun’s heart go crazy. Now, it just made him look away. She looked way too much like her artificial son and he didn’t like it, he didn’t like it at all.

     “What do you mean ? He’s my son. There’s a chance he likes the same things as me.”

     “And there’s a chance he doesn’t.”

     “Baekhyun,” Junmyeon stepped in, “go get some pillows.”

     “We already have too many pillows…”

     “Baekhyun. Go get some pillows.”

     Junmyeon watched him leave and sighed, turning around to apologize to the young woman, but she didn’t seem affected.

     “It’s okay, it’s probably stressful for you. Thank you for taking care of my… son. I hope I’ll be able to talk to him soon.”

     “I’m sure he won’t hate you for long,” Junmyeon tried to smile at her, but it was more like a frown. “They seem nice, as nice as children raised by villains can be.”

     “Oh, I’m sure they can be absolutely lovely, but I may be biased,” she laughed. “I’m his mother, after all. I’m sure Irene thinks like me. Beside, they’re just children, they can’t be as bad as some of your boys think they are.”

     Junmyeon felt his cheeks burn without knowing what to say to defend his boys. He didn’t want her to think – to know – that some of his friends didn’t like her son, mothers could be quite… dangerous. He knew he would have at least said something in a harsh tone, but Taeyeon proved again that she was an angel and just laughed it off.

     “It’s okay, Jun, no need to worry about it. I understand, I can’t expect them to be comfortable around the kids after what happened with their parents. You’re feeding them, you gave them a place to stay, we’re making some beds, they’re safe. Thank you. Oh, and sorry for Irene, she was a bit… rude. Poor boy. I hope he’s okay.”

     “None of them seems okay,” Junmyeon confessed. “They’re always… so scared and ready to attack. Well, more like protect themselves or defend someone of the group. That’s not normal.”

     “Junmyeon, they may be children, but they got raised by villains. As much as I hate the thought of it, they probably got abused. It would be better to let them talk about it, but give them space.”

     “How ? We have to keep an eye on them. Children or not, you said it yourself, they got raised by villains.”

     “I didn’t mean to say they were bad !” Taeyeon quickly protested, her perfect smile finally faltering (it kinda got on his nerves : how could someone smile so brightly all the time ?).

     “I know, it wasn’t what I mean neither. They could do something bad because of their fear. Let’s just say one of my boys forgets how sensitive they are and doesn’t get noticed until he’s beside them, they’ll surely let their reflexes take control. They could also hurt themselves, who knows !”

     They worked in silence for a while, both of them lost in their thoughts. When they finished, the room finally seemed nice and a bit like home. Baekhyun still didn’t return, but Junmyeon never did anything to get him back. If he thought it was better for him to stay away, then his leader trusted his choice.

     “I hope I won’t have to wait for long before bringing him home,” Taeyeon sighed, playing with her blonde hair. “I feel responsible. He’s my son, I should have done something instead of leaving him with Jessi- Cheetah. He would probably be happier if I took him with me.”

     “No one even knew about this kid’s existence before we fought them, it’s not your fault. Anyway, what’s done is done, let’s put the past behind us.”

     “Can I come back tomorrow ? I’d like to come at least once a day so Jaemin and I can get closer.”

     Junmyeon felt his powers leave him. Something happened to Baekhyun, but since he got them back some seconds after, it couldn’t be bad. His mood probably just dropped for a short moment, nothing to worry about.

     “Sure. You’re his mother, we can’t stop you from seeing your son.”

     “Oh, thank you so much ! I hope I won’t bother you.”

     “Never. It’s getting late, it’s been a while since the kids had breakfast and we’re trying to give them three meals a day, with some snacks. Thanks for helping us !”

     His powers were slowly, but surely slipping from him. Something didn’t feel right, Baekhyun never let anything get to him to the point where it affected his ability (and others). When Taeyeon left, the leader faced a wall, sighing.

     “I know you’re there. What’s going on ?”

     The wall faltered, Baekhyun appearing. His light powers were pretty useful and they used it more than once for illusions. Most people didn’t know about it, even other heroes. What was problematic about it was when Baekhyun used them against his team or to spy on others like he just did.

     “I just don’t like the idea of the kid going with her,” he admitted before his friend said anything. “She doesn’t know anything about him and his team probably wouldn’t take it well, you saw how mad their leader went when we took them away.”

     Junmyeon chuckled. It was nothing sincere, more bitter and forced than genuine.

     “Yeah, a real momma bear. Take the cubs away and you’ll die. Irene analysed it and told me it showed more than we think. The way they instantly protect each other more when adults are in the same room is heartbreaking, don’t you think ?”

     “Let’s not talk about that. Dinner’s almost ready, I should check on the kids.”

     “We can’t keep them, Baekhyun.”

     Baekhyun stopped, hand on the door’s handle.

     “That’s not what I wan… they’re like me,” he softly whispered, finally realizing what Suho already knew. “I want to help them.”

     His leader watched him leave, regretting that his friend opened his heart way too fast and always ended getting hurt for it.

 

Minseok hated to stop the youngest kids when they seemed to have fun, but they were probably starving and he hated that idea more than the one of disturbing their game.

     “Is someone hungry ?” he asked in what he hoped to be a cheerful voice. “Let’s eat !”

     Then, he noticed their dirty hands and guilty faces. Jaemin even dared to do the puppy eyes and, well, he couldn’t resist, smiling so they could see he wasn’t angry.

     “It’s okay, Jongin shouldn’t let his slim when children could find it. Just go watch your hands. Mark, you can come with me.”

     Mark furiously shook his head, eyebrows furrowed and angry little fists ready to punch if the older dared to put him away from the others.

     Yes, the scrawny, small, hungry twelve years old boy was ready to jump on the adult if he felt like his friends were threatened. Minseok would have cooed at his adorable scrunched nose if he wasn’t about to cry.

     “Okay, okay, let’s wait for them ! Why didn’t you play with the slim too ?”

     “There wasn’t enough slim for all of us so I gave my part to Jisung. Hansol-hyung always said we had to share.”

     “Ah, your hyung is a good hyung then.”

     Mark even followed the others to the bathroom, helping tiny Chenle get rid of the green substance between his fingers while Jaemin was doing the same to Jisung. The latter seemed to like Jaemin as much as the two Chinese boys, but more in a older-younger way than friends. It hadn’t been long since they were with EXO, but Minseok noticed that the youngest would play with Renjun and Chenle and go to Jaemin when he needed something (or Mark when the other was absent or unable to help).

     “I’m their leader, I have to stay with them. Taeyong-hyung always stays with us and he’s the leader.”

     So the kid wanted to be like his… friend, brother, Minseok didn’t really know. It was both cute and worrying, seeing how said leader couldn’t take care of himself before making sure the others were fine. With parents like theirs, they would never be fine.

     “It’s not like that, you know. Our leader is with us most of the time, but he still has his life…”

     “Yes, but he’s a grown-up. He’s scary.”

     Even with his mask on, no one was afraid of Junmyeon.

     _Ah, yes. These children just see every adult as scary._

     “Let’s just eat. Try… not to be too much like your hyung, you understand ?”

 

Mark didn’t understand.

     The boy watched Taeyong like a hawk, doing everything like the older, and it was so obvious Minseok was surprised he didn’t notice it earlier. Seeing Mark wait until everyone has his part made him grimace and Jongdae quietly stepped on his foot, glaring at his lover.

     “Stop watching them like that, you’re gonna creep them out,” the youngest of the two men hissed. “They seriously don’t need more reasons to fear us.”

     Luckily, Junmyeon raised of his seat before the other two, taking Mark and Taeyong by the arm and dragging them out of the room, Yixing quickly following behind (even if he didn’t know what was his lover planning). It was stupid; as soon as the boys couldn’t see their leaders anymore, Hansol nearly jumped on Kyungsoo and Yuta was about to throw his spoon as Sehun when they got interrupted by the youngest, Jisung in tears at the thought of not seeing ‘Yongie’ and ‘Markie’ (his words). Junmyeon couldn’t bring himself to care about it, trusting his boys to take care of this mess while he handled another one.

     “Explain this, now.”

     It wasn’t a request, it was an order. His leader voice made Mark’s eyes fill with water and he would probably have felt guilty if he wasn’t acting like this for their sake. They were already way too skinny to be healthy, he couldn’t see them starving themselves.

     “If hyung does it as his job, then it’s mine too. I’m a leader too.”

     “Yes, a younger one,” Taeyong reminded him, arms crossed. “I’m your leader, so stop giving your food to others. I’m already doing it, anyway.”

     “And this whole thing needs to stop, now. We have more food then you think and we’re more than okay with letting you get another plate if you’re still hungry. I have no idea how much you ate when you were with your parents, but things are different here. You keep your food to yourself and if one of your friends wants more, he can get served again, but not from your plate. You understand ?”

     Lay looked at him, his eyes asking him to be a bit softer (or just, you know, looking at his). Junmyeon smiled, embarrassed. He was a little bit too extreme when a child’s well being was involved.

     “Being the leader doesn’t mean doing everything alone. If you’re hurt, you can’t lead the team, and they would be lost without you. Try to care of yourselves more, okay ? If you can’t do it for you, do it for the team.”

     Irene mentioned how the best way to get them to obey was probably to mention the others and Junmyeon couldn’t do anything but agree with her, which was kind of sad… and annoying. Why couldn’t they be like other teenagers and stop basically asking to be the victim instead of their brothers ? It was hypocrite of him to judge them since he was the same, but maybe it was the reason why it worried him so much.

     “Also, Byun Baekhyun, if you don’t get the fu- fudge out of there in a second, I’ll do something that will give the kids a real reason to be afraid of me.”

     “I can’t believe you used them against me,” Baekhyun mumbled, sitting against the wall. “Look, they’re terrified now.”

     After promising them Suho was only kidding (well, not really), they talked, Yixing’ sweet smile and silence helping the children much more than the other two could have. His little nods and hums assured the kids he was listening and his eyes were so kind it was no doubt why they liked him more than anyone else in the team. Lay’s healing powers affected people around him, influencing them to the point where a stranger would trust him with their life without even asking themselves if it was safe. The day ago, one of the Chinese kids almost sat on his lap before remembering who he was and running away to get to Doyoung, who was helping Winwin with his Korean.

     They talked, and it was horrifying. Yixing struggled to keep a smile, his eyebrows slowly getting closer in a frown he couldn’t stop. Baekhyun was about to leave to teach their parents some manners and Junmyeon decided that he would help.

     “Father used to hurt us more, it’s better now. Yuta managed to escape once, but he came back because he refused to leave us behind, that stupid Japanese broccoli. He can’t die, Yuta : Hansol has this weird power who made him immortal and he kind of shared it with him, but their wounds are twice as painful now. They can’t die as long as the other is alive, so things like weapons and such still affect them. If one of them dies but the other is still alive, he’ll just wake up in a few seconds.”

     Taeyong’s voice was hesitant and he kept pausing for a bit before going on, not understanding why he was saying all of that to someone he didn’t even fully trust. It just felt so nice, to have someone listening without judging you; Suho knew how it was.

     “I hate when they do it. They’re careful, of course, but not as much as they would be if they could die. I know that they’ll wake up, but seeing them lying with blood running down their head, chest or whatever, it… doesn’t feel right.”

     “But it’s not so bad. It can be nice when the adults leave, Donghyuck always thinks of a new game. I like Hyuckie, he’s really funny. He can be mean, though : sometimes, he keeps on surprising me until I make the flower he wants.”

     Lay guessed that Mark, being like Poison Ivy, could make flowers grow when he was surprised. It seemed to be the kind of things the redhead would do. Mark and Taeyong never said a word about toys, so it probably meant they didn’t have any back home, which was easy to believe since they got surprised and more than happy when they saw Minho’s surprise. The man was fond of the kids, treating them like they were normal children.

     Maybe that was the reason why they liked him. Even Hansol let him play with the Dreamies. Oh, he kept an eye on them, but EXO couldn’t touch one of the NCT boys without making him clench his teeth and glare so angrily Kyungsoo himself gave up and turned back after trying to ask Jeno and Renjun if they wanted to eat something before going to bed.

     “Can you tell me more ?” Suho asked with a smile, hoping it seemed sincere.

     They already knew the parents didn’t treat their sons well. Taeyong never said what they did, but clearly implied that they weren’t afraid to punch some defenseless children. Great.

     “Taeyong, Mark, do you have something to add ?” Yixing tried after Junmyeon was met with a cold silence.

     Taeyong looked at his fluffy purple socks – Baekhyun’s gift – and Mark shook his head. The hero with mochi cheeks clapped once, getting their attention.

     “This is really nice and all – okay, it’s anything but nice – but I’m pretty sure someone’s gonna lose an arm or two if we keep you longer. I’ll let Junmyeon and Yixing bring you back to your brothers, have fun !”

     His red eyes didn’t go unnoticed, but Baekhyun quickly flew out of the room and ran to the one he shared with Chanyeol, choking on a sob when he saw said hero there. He literally threw himself in the taller man’s arms, forehead on his chest.

     “Hy-Hyung ? Hey, Baekhyun, look at me. What’s going on ?”

     Baekhyun refused to raise his head, preferring his boyfriend’s warm embrace instead.

     “They’re only _kids_ , Chanyeol. Just children.”

     He expected Chanyeol to sigh, let him go and tell him how dangerous they were.

     Chanyeol sighed, let him go and took his tiny boyfriend’s hands, sitting on their bed to accommodate said tiny boyfriend’s height so he could properly talk to him.

     “I know, Baekhyun. They’re just children. They’ll be okay as long as they’re together.”

     Baekhyun sat behind him, refusing his silent invitation to lean on him.

     “They’ll do anything as long as it protects their friends, even if it means doing bad things. That’s why I fear them so much. They look ready to kill for their loved ones and that’s something I understand.”

     Baekhyun still refusing to get closer, Chanyeol leaned on him instead, the smallest of them yelping at the sudden weight.

     “I can’t let you get hurt, but I can’t watch us fall apart because of this. I’m sorry. I love you.”

     And then, Baekhyun let his back fall on the bed along with his boyfriend’s, closing his eyes without even caring about the blanket. Chanyeol and him were okay, everything else could wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys :)
> 
> I really like this universe and I'd like to write more about it (when LAC will be finished, of course; I'm struggling with a few fics, I won't start a new one until I finished at least one !). I'm (still) trying to stan Stray Kids and I found some cute fanfictions about them having this EXO x NCT kind of relationship with GOT7. Would you like a story about Heroes!Stray Kids and Villains!GOT7 ?
> 
> There's also SEVENTEEN (I almost love Mingyu as much as I love Taeyong and it says a lot)... who would you want with them ? It doesn't have to be a parent-child relationship, it can just be brothers, best friends or anything. Nuest ? Monsta X ? After School ? BTS ? Pristin ? Pledis Family ?


	7. - Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> EXO fight people and forget that NCT are children.
> 
> Oh, and Yuta might be dying or something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is shorter than I wanted, sorry.
> 
> By the way, I have a beta now! For now, she's busy with her exams so she didn't read this chapter yet, but I'll correct it as soon as she works on it :) I could have waited, but it's been a while since I didn't post anything and I didn't want to make you wait another month (three are already too much, sORRY)

Sehun knew everything was too easy. The villains gave up on their children way too soon, there was no way they would let EXO take something away from them like that.

     The hero raised a hand, creating a shield to protect himself from Cheetah. With a snap of his fingers, he sent her flying away, crashing in a building. She came back a few seconds later, but he already left, hiding away from her to take her by surprise. Even as he was trapping her inside of a tornado of his own, he couldn’t stop thinking about the kids. Jisung was so small, so young, Sehun was definitely unable to see why someone would want to hurt the baby of the group. Cheetah tried to escape and failed. Something was wrong, he knew he wasn’t concentrated enough to hold her against her will.

     “Suho, they’re trying to distract us,” he muttered under his breath, making sure Cheetah’s inhuman ears couldn’t hear them.

     Since they still couldn’t leave the kids alone, Junmyeon and Minseok decided to stay. Someone had to guide the heroes on the battlefield while they were fighting. Junmyeon was already used to this job and the children trusted Minseok more than the others, so they accepted to stay without arguing.

     “They’re trying to get their children… I guess. The boys didn’t seem to think they could act as parents, it’s weird that they’re finally doing it. Bet they’re just angry we took something from them.”

     Even with Cheetah trying to tear his skin down and the sounds of some explosions in the background, Sehun heard Baekhyun sighing and could perfectly imagine his eye roll.

     “Wait a second, I think Taeyeon, Irene and Minho are here – try to find who’s missing in the villains. I’ll join you in a few minutes, I’m sending Xiumin for backup, the others will guard the kids for us.”

     Sehun stepped back and threw some pieces of what was once a building at the villain with a groan. He was getting tired and quickly thought about working on it while ducking for cover when one of Poison Ivy’s plants decided that he would make a tasty snack and tried to catch him with a green tentacle.

     “Give me back my child,” Cheetah growled as she jumped in front of him, raising her leg to kick him in the ribs.

     Sehun blocked it with his arms, grabbing and twisting it to send her to the ground. Hands on the sand, she turned on herself, her free leg kicking his face and probably leaving a bruise.

     “You’ll see him in jail, where the both of you belong,” he snarled while letting her leg go to stop himself from falling. “Guys, I’m pretty sure it’s a trap.”

     “Shut up and fight, Seahoon,” Baekhyun’s voice teased him and Sehun swore he could hear his grin.

     Cheetah threw a handful of sand at him, too quickly to ask wind to send it away. Surprised, Sehun got blinded for a few seconds before he could get rid of the sand in his eyes. Seeing Cheetah running away, he simply left, too lazy to chase after her.

     “Cheetah left.”

     “Apparently, they were here to distract us so the Joker could rob a bank,” Junmyeon replied. “Boring and predictable, we met him on our way. He ran away, but without his money so I guess we can say we won.”

     Sehun sighed, unhappy. Unlike Cheetah, the Joker was fun to fight with.

     “I missed all the fun,” he whined, jokingly stomping his feet on his way back, knowing Kyungsoo could to feel the vibrations in the ground.

     “Hurry, big baby,” said hyung chuckled in his earpiece. “We have some real babies to babysit.”

 

Jisung, Chenle, Jaemin and Renjun were adorable. Sitting on the floor, the last three were building a block castle while the youngest was too busy rolling his little cars on said castle to help them. Irene was trying her best to make her son notice her, but the stubborn child refused to even look at her, putting his chubby face against Renjun’ shoulder when she looked in his way. Minho was talking to Jeno – the kid had this amazed look on his face and it was so pure Yixing could have melted on the ceramic floor – and Taeyeon was having the time of her life trying to cook with Mark and Donghyuck (with Taeyong watching the three of them like a hawk, wincing every time she decided to let Mark do something). Their eggs seemed overcooked, but the kids never smiled so big in their presence.

“I can’t believe you managed to ruin eggs, Mark,” Taeyong groaned as he cleaned the mess, perfectly ignoring the heroes and smiling so the boy could see he wasn’t angry.

Mark giggled and ran away, hand in Donghyuck’s and pink cherry blossoms growing in his hair. Yixing’s heart did three backflips at the scene, the cuteness almost unreal coming from the shy boy and the constantly angry kid. Okay, maybe that getting kidnapped didn’t make you feel like smiling to the ones who did said kidnapping.

“Oh, there you are! How did it go?”

Taeyeon was playing with Renjun and Chenle, who were… smiling at her. A big, sincere smile. Yixing almost forgot how to breathe when Chenle let Irene hug him – god, the kid even _giggled_.

What happened while they were gone?

“Oh no, the Hulk is going to kill me! Nooooo!” Minho screamed, chased by Jisung.

The boy had a green Hulk mask on his face, but it was clear that he was smiling as he ran after the adult, his much smaller legs running as fast as they could. Sicheng pouted, unable to concentrate on the book Taeil was trying to make him read. While the Chinese boy still flinched when Minho went close to them, he didn’t even look at Taeil when the latter shook his arm to get his attention on a particulary difficult word.

It didn’t go unnoticed; hours later, as soon as the children were back in their room for the night, the heroes met in the kitchen.

“Something’s wrong.”

“For fuck sake, Jongin, they can be calm without thinking about world’s domination.”

“Nah, he’s right,” Sehun commented without raising his eyes from his glass. “They were about to fight us for breathing in the same room as them. It’s weird that they’re suddenly acting–”

“Like kids?” Yixing shrugged, clearly disinterested. “They’re children, it’s normal for them to act this way. Minho gave them toys. Irene is Chenle’s mother and told me they talked while we were busy fighting the villains. Taeyeon is sweet and children love her.”

Junmyeon kept quiet until his boys’ voices raised too much, the man grimacing at the thought of the children waking up because of them. As much as he wanted to believe that the kids weren’t as bad as the others said, he couldn’t help but think that it was weird how their behavior suddenly changed. Kids or not, they spent the whole day acting like normal children – playing and laughing with Minho, Taeyeon and Irene – and it was too different from their usual behavior for it to be normal. Junmyeon was sure that Chenle would never let Irene close to him, yet the boy _hugged_ her before she left. She said that they talked and refused to tell them more about it, but the hero doubted it was enough to get Chenle to warm up to her.

“Guys, stop it. I can’t deny that it’s weird and I doubt that they’re being sincere, but for now, they didn’t do anything bad. They’re still in the building and they can’t escape, so it doesn’t matter how fake their hugs were. For now, let them be. As long as none of you give them the key to their freedom, I don’t see a problem with their behavior.”

Before the others could even think about arguing, he dismissed the meeting and sent everyone to bed (despite Sehun whining about how he wasn’t a kid and couldn’t be send to his room like that). At this point, Junmyeon couldn’t say who were the most childish between NCT and his boys.

 

“I’m tired.”

         Hansol gave his boyfriend a worried smile and slipped under the blankets, holding him as soon as he was laying on the bed. Yuta wasn’t one to get easily tired and he usually would still have energy to fight a hero or two before going to bed, but as the days passed, he was getting tired earlier and it was nearly impossible to wake him up. The older of the couple talked to Jaehyun and Doyoung about it (making Taeyong worry more was an absolute no) and the youngest of the three suggested to ask to EXO for help, but Hansol refused. They would know that Yuta wasn’t okay and he couldn’t let any of his brothers – and his boyfriend – show any weakness. For now, they would have to pretend that everything was normal… which meant that he’d have to talk to the others too, Taeyong included. Hansol sighed; he really didn’t want to, but he had no choice. The others could help him hide Yuta’s lack of energy, hiding it from the best heroes in the whole universe wasn’t something he was able to do on his own.

         “Shut up and sleep,” Yuta mumbled, rolling over so he could put his head on Hansol’ shoulder.

         “I didn’t say anything.”

         “I can hear you thinking. Stop it.”

         “And yet you’re the first one to tell me I should think more,” Hansol teased him.

         Tired, Yuta whined and slapped the arm wrapped around him. The blonde laughed and kissed his forehead, doing his best to ignore Renjun’s “GROSS” and Taeyong jokingly asking them to keep it safe for the kids.

         For the first time in what seemed like forever, Hansol fell asleep listening to his brothers’ laughs, but even knowing that they finally didn’t spend the whole night worrying about getting killed in their sleep wasn’t enough to make the frown on his face disappear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised my beta that no one will die while she's studying for her exams, so don't worry about Yuta... or maybe you should. Maybe. :)
> 
> Twitter : PetitSkittles


	8. - Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> important note at the eeeeeeeeeend
> 
> no it's not a hiatuuuuuuuuus
> 
> yes it's been a whiiiiiiiile
> 
> i know i said "weekly updates" (LMAOOOOOOO never happened) but i had to deal with some familial stuff :D i don't think i need to say it didn't go well whoops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTAAAAAAAAAANT please read the note at the end uwu
> 
> (nO it's not a hiatus)
> 
> ((also... yeah, i said i was back to weekly updates. yeah, i did a terrible job at that.))

Doyoung opened his eyes, waiting for a noise. The others were sleeping without a sound, Jeno wrapped around him. Gently, he left the boy’s embrace and lifted him in his arms. Jaemin was sleeping alone under his blanket, which Doyoung raised to put Jeno next to the child. They both opened an eye, saw the other and went back to sleep holding hands.

         Glad to see that it took Jeno less than a second to forget him. Despite knowing that the two children were already asleep, Doyoung faked a horrified gasp and Jaehyun’s grin – he swore he could hear it – answered him.

         “Go to sleep,” he mumbled as he put his hand on the door.

         “What are you doing? It’s late, you need sleep too. Come on, don’t be hypocrite.”

         Doyoung shook his head and concentrated.

         “I’m hungry. I’ll be right back… you want to come?”

         Jaehyun pointed at Taeyong, who was sleeping on the other boy, head on his chest.

         “I guess it’s a no, then. God forbid you’d wake up your dear Yongie,” Doyoung quietly laughed, ignoring the dark look his friend gave him. “Unless the old guys get me, it shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes.”

         When the Dreamies were playing with the adults, he discovered that his Beetle wasn’t neutralized like the heroes thought. The small alien stuck on his back couldn’t give him as much powers as it usually could, but it was enough to send an electric shock to the door, neutralizing the alarm and unlocking it. Unsurprisingly, when he revealed it to the others, none of them suggested to use it to escape. Sure, they all thought about it, but they silently decided to not mention it. They were safe and had food, it was understandable that they didn’t want to leave. Prisoners or not, they could go to sleep without fearing that they wouldn’t wake up. Choosing between a freedom of pain and blood and being safe but trapped was easy. Without that, they would have been able to escape sooner since the heroes saw them as children and underestimated them.

         Hand on the door, he felt his Beetle wake up and asked it to open the door. The parasite linked their minds and since the day it decided that Doyoung would make a great host, the boy found himself with a voice that wasn’t his in his mind. It was both scary and useful; the Beetle could take control of his body, but it saved his life more than once. Also, it allowed Doyoung to ask him to do things. If the boy stayed polite, the alien was okay with pretty much anything.

         Now that the security wasn’t a problem anymore, Doyoung stepped out of the room and closed the door, not wanting an EXO member to see it open. They probably wouldn’t go to the kitchen in the middle of the night and he wouldn’t be gone for long anyway.

_You shouldn’t leave the room._

         _Shut up, what they don’t know can’t hurt me and I’m too hungry to care_ , Doyoung replied, ignoring his Beetle’s warning.

         Yep, the conversations through Taeyong’s magical telepathic link were much more comfortable. At least, they never left him with a headache.

         The lights were off, but it wasn’t a problem. Doyoung’s eyes turned purple and he thanked his Beetle for it – the last time he forgot to thank the parasite for his help, he couldn’t use his left arm for an entire day. Now that he could see something, he opened the cupboard and took a glass, filling it with water. He chose a banana in the bowl on the counter, happily peeling it. Fresh fruits were great and much better than the rotten ones.

         “You know, if you wanted to eat fruits, you didn’t have to break the door for it.”

         Doyoung choked on his banana and coughed, Johnny watching him without knowing if he should apologize, laugh or call an ambulance.

         “Fuck, sorry, are you okay?”

         “I didn’t break the door, I just… opened it. I can’t tell you how, please don’t hurt me!” Doyoung quickly said before closing his eyes, ready to take a hit that never came, mentally kicking himself for sounding so afraid – even if it could be useful against the heroes’ kind, _weak_ hearts.

         “Dude, you ate a banana, it’s not that deep. Yixing always tells us to eat fruits, he would have given you one if you asked for it.”

         The youngest of the two didn’t reply and finished his fruit so fast Johnny worried he would choke on it again.

“By the way, we wouldn’t have hurt you for something like that… we wouldn’t hurt you at all. Just don’t start a fight and you won’t get hurt. I won’t tell the others, you just took a fruit and I don’t think it’s worth telling EXO.”

The purple haired boy nodded and gently put his glass in the sink, trying to be as quiet as possible.

“If you’re hungry, you don’t have to wait until everyone is asleep to eat. There’s more than enough food here, you can get a second plate before leaving the table.”

“It’s not _just_ that,” Doyoung tried to explain. “I, I can’t really eat with you. No offense, but being with so many strangers, people who hurt us before, it makes me lose my appetite.”

He wasn’t used to explaining how he felt, not even to his brothers. They knew each other as much – maybe even more – as they knew themselves, they never really needed to talk to understand the others’ feelings.

Put them with people they didn’t knew and they were unable to read feelings that weren’t negative. Doyoung hated it, hated having some kind of weaknesses, even if it didn’t have anything to do with his ability to fight.

         “My stomach hurts and I feel like I’ll throw up if I try to eat more than half a plate… also, your plates are pretty big, it doesn’t help.”

         Johnny laughed. Doyoung frowned, not understanding why. He didn’t say anything funny, he was being serious.

         “Don’t make that face, I’m not making fun of you. It’s just… I thought it was funny, in a good way.”

         Doyoung shrugged and looked down, arms crossed against his chest in a defensive position that seemed relaxed for someone unexperienced. Johnny didn’t give him the fighter vibe, so he was probably unable to tell Doyoung was ready to protect or attack at any second.

         “You should go to sleep, it’s late.”

         “I can’t sleep. None of us can, except for the babies.”

         “Babies?”

         “The kids, the youngest ones,” Doyoung quickly corrected himself, suddenly (more) tense.

         Showing any kind of affection was a weakness and, while it was already obvious they cared for their youngest brothers, habits were hard to lose.

         Johnny waited a few minutes before talking again and Doyoung hated it. He hated waiting for a reaction, it was pretty clear what kind of reactions he was used to and, with Johnny’s silence, he thought the other boy was mad or upset.

         “Want a hot cocoa?”

         “What.”

         “A hot cocoa, it’s a drink made of milk and–”

         “No, I know what’s a hot cocoa, I just… I’m just surprised. Why would you offer me a hot cocoa? In the middle of the night? These things are usually for winter, cold and all that stuff, right? Not that I’d know,” he added, making exactly the kind of jokes – if he could call it a joke – he would’ve made with his brothers.

         “What do you mean, not that you… Doyoung, you never had a hot cocoa before.”

         That wasn’t a question.

         “We don’t exactly have parents who will make you hot cocoa and chocolate chips cookies.”

         Johnny would probably have made the same face if Doyoung had punched him.

         “Right. Sorry, that was stupid, I shouldn’t have assumed… anyway. You want one? You can’t live without knowing what hot cocoa tastes like! Maybe we should wake up the others.”

         “I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the energy to make so much hot cocoa. They need to sleep anyway, let them. The night is the only moment we have alone.”

         A few minutes later, Doyoung had a hot cocoa and could definitely understand why Johnny liked the drink so much.

         “When I was a kid, Sehun used to make me hot cocoa when the nightmares woke me up. He’s a great big brother, I think it’s something you guys can understand.”

         “Yeah, we know about siblings.”

         Doyoung drank a bit too fast and burned his tongue, but the pain was manageable. The atmosphere was way too awkward and he wanted to leave, to go back to the room where his brothers were waiting for him. He didn’t want to get into a conversation with Johnny about his siblings, not when he barely knew the other.

         “Hey, if you still have trouble sleeping and it doesn’t have anything to do with your stomach, I may have something that could help you.”

         Johnny took his hand – letting it go barely a second after grabbing it, having noticed how Doyoung flinched – and went to the living room, making sure no EXO member was awake to see them.

         “There. It’s a bit old and maybe boring, but I guess you guys never got any of these so you should like it. Maybe not you, but the kids would.”

         Johnny started telling him about how the book used to be his favourite when he was a child, but Doyoung wasn’t listening anymore. He had something. A gift. Johnny trusted him enough to let him borrow something he liked, something that was precious to him. He even gave him food without asking for anything in return.

         “I’m going to sleep. Thank… Thank you, for the food and the book,” he whispered, hating how he stuttered.

         Johnny let him walk back to the room on his own and it wasn’t until he was sitting on his bed, book on his lap, that he remembered he didn'tt know how to read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not gonna lie, this story sucks. i still like the plot and the characters, but there's so much more to tell about that universe and i didn't leave anything in my notes for character growth.
> 
> so, would it be okay to rewrite the story? my style changed - it's been months - and i'd like to add more chapters than i planned to. i've started writing chapters of about 7k words and LAC is pretty disappointing for now, i'm not proud of it.  
> here's what i'd like to add in the new version (with other things):  
> \- chapters about nct, their lives before they met exo  
> \- cHARACTER GROWTH i barely planned any of that in my notes... not even for taeyong  
> \- more attention for everyone... seriously, this became a chanbaek and taeyong ft. nct and exo fanfic. not my intention, whoops.  
> \- more representatioooooooooon. i swear i just said "fuck it everyone is gay" and bam. nOTHING WRONG WITH THAT, but i'd like to add trans/ace/pan/bi/genderfluid/etc characters. with nct and exo, i have more than 20 characters, so there's no reason not to add more than just "gay"  
> \- give ten, lucas and jungwoo a bigger role... and probably keep something in mind if the sm rookies join nct before the fic ends. for the rookies, it won't be something big, maybe just a mention, but still.  
> \- more stuff about the powers and probably new heroes/villains instead of dc/marvel. i'd probably keep a bunch of those (because taeyong as a mix of loki and harley queen is nice and chanyeol as iron man is cANON so) but i won't just say "oh he's that and if you don't know that character then just sTRUGGLE" (rip my beta)  
> \- i'm still thinking about this one, but maybe add renjun to nomin and put chenle and jisung together... whoops, that's not super important so let's not get started on ships
> 
> so what i could do:  
> a. rewrite the story (and leave this version there in case someone would like to read this one, though i'll probably finish this one too)  
> b. finish this version and rewrite it when it's finished
> 
> if i change bIG things in the story (aka that thing was supposed to happen but nOPE the whole plot changes starting from chapter X), i'll post a short chapter about what would have happened in this version.
> 
> so... what do you want me to do? rewrite after or before i finish this version?


End file.
